Line of Time

Finally a Letter

The next morning after most of her children were up and eating breakfast Miss Cooper went to go wake up Gunnar and Tino. She opened the door and woke them up, only to find Gunnar with dark circles under his eyes and Tino with a pained look on his face. 

"What's wrong?" She asked as she brought a hand up to check Tino's temperature. She brought her hand away and looked at him.

"You're burning up, do you feel alright?" She asked him as he shook his head. 

"And you, I'm guessing you didn't sleep very well last night..." She asked as Gunnar shook his head as well. 

"It hurts..." He said as his was rough and sore. 

"Well then it looks like the two of you are staying here today, I can't send you to school like this." She said as gestured for both of them to fallow her, which they did. They piled out of bed and walked out into the kitchen. 

"Hey, Tino... Are you okay?" Lukas asked as he turned around in his chair. 

"Yeah, you're walking a little weird." Mathias added as Tino came up to a chair and sat down. 

"I'm fine... It's okay, just a little sore today." He said told them how much discomfort he was in, it gave him away. 

"You don't sound fine..." Berwald said as he looked over at him along with Erin. Gunnar sat down across from him and everyone looked at Tino with worry filled eyes. 

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it..." Tino insisted as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. 

"Alright..." They said collectively as they went back to their breakfast and then went off to school for the day. Soon afterwards Tino finished his breakfast and put his bowl away as Miss Cooper had a talk with Gunnar about his skipping out on school. She learned about all of it and how he had been absent for most of the year so far. He explained why and gave a whole list of reasons but in the end Miss Cooper told him that he had to go to school and the only reason why he wouldn't be going for the rest of the week was because of his newly broken arm. 

Tino had heard most of the discussion but was too tired to really hear what they were actually saying. Until Miss Cooper saw him walk away from the kitchen and into his room that he shared with Gunnar and Mathias for now. 

"Tino, does you back hurt?" She asked from her seat as he stopped and turned to her. 

"A little but... I'll be fine tomorrow, it was just a big day yesterday." He said as he then limped to his own bed afterwards. She watched him with concern as he disappeared into the room. 

"He never wants to make people worry about him much." She said as she walked past Gunnar to get his medication before she sent him back to bed as well. 

"What do you mean?" Gunnar asked curiously. 

"He never let's anyone know if he's hurting until he can't take the pain any longer. He doesn't like it when people fuss over him." She said as she opened the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of pills.

"...Has he always been like that?" Gunnar questioned, now curious about it all. 

"For as long as he started living with Chase, yes. That's why I'm worried about him. Tino has his bad days from time to time when it comes to his ability to walk but lately it's been getting to a point where he's having more bad days than good. I'm worried that he'll have to use his chair again soon, since he's not going to physical therapy anymore. " She said as she handed Gunnar a pill and put the bottle away on a high shelf. Gunnar swallowed it with what was left of his water and grimaced at the awful taste it had left in his mouth.